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Thomas Jordan
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Ok.. hit me.. (gently)
« on: July 17, 2008, 01:00:26 PM »
Playing with some ideas on this new client. It's not "complete" but the shell is just about where I think I want it. I'm open to critique, ideas, etc.

Using:
Joomla 1.5.2 (JFTP still broken.. grr)
Virtue Mart 1.1.0
RokSlider

Really looking for good header ideas... I'm a paduan code-monkey, not a jedi code-monkey, so keep that in mind. lol.

The site is http://www.greenvillediamonds.com
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jomaco1
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Re: Ok.. hit me.. (gently)
« Reply #1 on: July 19, 2008, 11:18:15 PM »
Sorry, but regardless of your "monkey" status....what really matters is the end product and what is best for the client. Wink

In my opinion, the template does not work for a jewelry store. It's blocky and spread out, but should be clean and compact. I would suggest spending some time reviewing other jewelry store sites and find a template that better suits the industry norm.

Take a look at http://www.reeds.com/ and http://www.zales.com/. These sites pack everything into a tight space and dont' use gradient backgrounds and shading, rather they utilize photographic imagery to provide the graphics impact.

This site: http://www.benbridge.com/bb_store/catalog/index.html is not quite as attractive as the others, but it very closely resembles the colormatic template, which may be a better choice for your site. Colormatic could even be modified to work for the layouts in the first two sites, but would require more customization. One thing you can do with colormatic that might be of benefit for a site such as this is to make the header a single graphic. Here's a simple site I did with a "static" background image in the header: http://www.lakesideyouthclub.com. Feel free to copy the stylesheet as a basis if you want.
« Last Edit: July 19, 2008, 11:20:04 PM by jomaco1 » Logged
Mark
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Re: Ok.. hit me.. (gently)
« Reply #2 on: July 20, 2008, 07:58:41 AM »
I agree with Jomaco1. You may want a cleaner, even understated look to the site. Colormatic can be used to contain a lot of information (here is one I am 98% done with: http://pointjudelures.com/tins/ ) and you may want to consider Hivemind as that is an elegant template when setup properly (keep it close to stock).
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Thomas Jordan
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Re: Ok.. hit me.. (gently)
« Reply #3 on: July 21, 2008, 04:33:02 AM »
Thanks for the feedback, both of you. I had a really hard time settling on a template for a jewelry site. I appreciate both your input on style and your suggestion for a template. I'll go isntall colormatic today and see what kind of results I can get with that as well.

I don't want the site to look too busy, and maybe colormatic will slow it down and clean it up a little.
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Thomas Jordan
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Re: Ok.. hit me.. (gently)
« Reply #4 on: July 22, 2008, 05:14:13 AM »
Ok. I've played with colormatic a little. I'm not sure how to best say it, but I'm not "feeling it" with Colormatic. It's too reminiscent of every other site out there like it, though I really do like what benbridge.com has done with theirs.

I kind of like the airy feel of the site. I'm not sure I'd want it as tight and integrated as colormatic would make it. I say this because I've just spent two hours behind fireworks and photoshop and I just can't seem to make colormatic flow the way I'd like.

I'm not giving up on it, just asking for some more thoughts on the matter from the viewers. I'll take any feedback I can get. Send your thoughts.  Again, the site is www.greenvillediamonds.com

Meanwhile, I'm going to play with Hivemind.

Thanks for all the input thus far.
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Uwe Rafael Cantero
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Re: Ok.. hit me.. (gently)
« Reply #5 on: July 22, 2008, 06:13:58 AM »
Hi Thomas,

just get errors when i visit the site!  Huh

Quote
RokHeadRotator

Warning: opendir(images/stories/stones/light/) [function.opendir]: failed to open dir: No such file or directory in /hermes/web01/b1591/pow.carleenlewis/htdocs/modules/mod_rokheadrotator/helper.php on line 20

Warning: readdir(): supplied argument is not a valid Directory resource in /hermes/web01/b1591/pow.carleenlewis/htdocs/modules/mod_rokheadrotator/helper.php on line 22

Warning: closedir(): supplied argument is not a valid Directory resource in /hermes/web01/b1591/pow.carleenlewis/htdocs/modules/mod_rokheadrotator/helper.php on line 30


RokHeadRotatorError: No Images Found in images/stories/stones/light/

i will check out later...

Uwe
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Thomas Jordan
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Re: Ok.. hit me.. (gently)
« Reply #6 on: July 22, 2008, 06:30:22 AM »
I was changing the template to Hivemind and it had an error in the code of the default template. It's been fixed now and it's currently showing the Hivemind template. I'm getting a little better feel on this template than I was on Colormatic. Thoughts, ideas?
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Uwe Rafael Cantero
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Re: Ok.. hit me.. (gently)
« Reply #7 on: July 22, 2008, 07:02:42 AM »
Hey Thomas.

i have problems with your menu on the right side. cause i cannot see the sub-sub-menu of rings.

i think i will check out the site again tomorrow, cause then you can find out probs like that by yourself and fix them first.

cYa
Uwe
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jomaco1
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Re: Ok.. hit me.. (gently)
« Reply #8 on: July 22, 2008, 09:40:06 AM »
Maybe instead of trying to fit the site to a template, you should try to fit the template to the site.

The template is not meant to dictate how the site will look. The site should actually be designed on the canvas first. If you use PhotoShop and FireWorx, build it there first and lay it out the way you want it to look. Create the header, menus and front page layout, then the store layout.

After the site is designed, choose a template that comes the closest to your design structurally. Modifying the template will require changing some images and adjusting the stylesheet...but hey...if you're gonna be a chef, you better know how to cook. Wink

Check out this site to see an example of how "colormatic" can be modified to fit the site: http://www.la-jolla-music-society.com/

BTW...benbridge.com does not appear to be a Joomla site; I was only using them as an example of a site that resembled the colormatic theme.
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Mark
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Test, Test, and Test some more... Seriously...

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Re: Ok.. hit me.. (gently)
« Reply #9 on: July 22, 2008, 09:53:31 AM »
This is not really a specialty, but I saw this site on another site here, and it is using the TerraTribune and makes it look incredible... But Before you keep installing template after template how about you do it up in photoshop and then start with a rocket launcher.  But here is the link to what I was saying..

http://www.stadtmuseum-schleswig.de/CMS_09/
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